Dear Board and Interim Superintendent Douglas:

We are happy to hear of the progress being made to bring pools to our district to help with water safety and aquatic accessibility, the development of athletic skills as envisioned under the CA Ed Code and to help provide better opportunities to develop academic accessibility through athletic excellence.

This petition is to show our support for your commitment to bring a pool to Torrey Pines High School, and later to the northern part of the district, to equitably serve the 10 schools in the district. Many of us are not able to attend the Board meetings but we are in support of the committee and their goals to build pools for the students. We applaud you for supporting this exciting milestone. 

As you know:

• 90% of California high school districts have pools. SDUHSD does not, despite having approximately 12,500 students.  In comparison, our neighboring Poway District has a pool at all 5 of their high schools and the Grossmont District has 13 pools across 11 campuses.  This unfairly disadvantages SDUHSD students.
• Most, if not all of our High School aquatic teams, have had their water time reduced at rented facilities putting them at a significant disadvantage competitively, which in turn reduces their opportunities for scholarships to improve accessibility to education. We anticipate this problem to increase next year and continue until pools are accessible locally.
• Our aquatic teams are having to turn away interested student athletes from High School teams because of the lack of pool space and time. Some are also leaving the district to play on more competitive teams.
• There is funding for construction - Fund40 monies - that have been confirmed by district staff.
• Operational and maintenance costs can be offset by local club team pool lane rentals year-round.

SDUHSD students should have access to the same resources as the rest of San Diego County, let alone the majority of public high schools across the State of California. Thank you again for supporting this vision by proceeding with the building of pools to provide equitable access to athletics and fulfill the CA Ed Code Requirement for Aquatic Safety for the over 12,500 district students.

Build Pools for SDUHSD Schools,

SDUHSD Parent Aquatic Committee

www.sandieguitopools.org